How Can Tomorrow Be June?

What the heck, the year is almost half over???? What happened??? Time sure flies when you're busy. Sometimes I think I have too much to do, but I guess it's better than being bored! Maybe time won't seem to go by so quickly when the kids are grown. We'll see about that!

Open Salon Post For Memorial Day

Open Salon didn't have ANY pieces about Memorial Day on today's cover. WTH? I was annoyed so I posted this piece. It's been on the "top rated" feed for a couple of hours so other readers must agree. :)

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Was going to write about this article that I thought was completely ridiculous, but I can't get motivated. So, I am signing off. Peace out!

Working on Saturday Night... UGH

So I left work early on Friday because they said we could, and now it's coming back to haunt me. I have to train someone on my role since I'm moving over to Internal Audit, and I'm behind as it is even without that. I really need to catch up and I'd rather do it now than wait until the last minute. Hopefully I can do a real blog entry tomorrow :)

3-Day Weekend... THANK GOD

Yay, the weekend is finally here and summer has unofficially begun. Tonight the girls have friends sleeping over, but after that we have no plans. We will just relax, hit the pool and run errands at a leisurely pace. Who knows, I might actually have time to do a real blog entry.....

OS Post

Today I posted Shannon Plasters' story on my Open Salon blog. Unfortunately, it got lost in the feed and I don't think anyone really saw it. I'm hoping it gets an editors' pick so people can read it for Memorial Day!

Fiction Wednesday on Open Salon

I posted on Open Salon today for Fiction Wednesday. Check it out here!

AOL Military Support Group Article

I wrote the following article for internal publication at my employer (AOL) on behalf of the AOL Military Support Group. This woman's story is amazing. Enjoy.

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Memorial Day is just a few short days away, and most of us here in America are looking forward to barbeques, hitting the neighborhood pool and, of course, a vacation day. We all know what Memorial Day is really about, but it's easy for many of us to feel somewhat removed from the reality of the brave service men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Take a moment and try to imagine how it would feel if someone you loved was killed while on active military duty - and it took almost 40 years for this person to be brought home and properly laid to rest. This is the story of AOLer Shannon Plaster, whose father Chief Warrant Officer Donald L. Wann was killed in Vietnam on June 1, 1971 and was finally buried with full military honors at Fort Gibson National Cemetery, Oklahoma on August 21, 2010.

Donald Lynn Wann was born on May 31, 1937 in Kosoma, Oklahoma. He started out as a photographer for the Navy but switched over to the Army so he could fly helicopters. Frequently described as fearless, he was awarded the Silver Star as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross for various heroic acts. On June 1, 1971, CW2 Wann and LT Paul Magers were shot down over a mountain while flying a Cobra helicopter in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. CW2 Wann had turned 34 years old the previous day. According to an official military account, “CW2 Wann started his rocket pass at about 1500 feet above the ground, and at about 40 feet, before commencing fire, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire. It was hit repeatedly in the underside and tail section of the aircraft...As the aircraft fell in a spiral pattern, 6 calls were made to CW2 Wann on both FM and UHF radio. None of the calls was answered. The aircraft crashed, burned, exploded (cooked off) and slid down a steep hill some 100 feet, before the ammunition on board started tearing apart what was left of the aircraft. All witnesses stated that the crash was non-survivable.” It was not possible for anyone to search for the downed aircraft at the time due to ongoing combat in the area, so Wann and Magers were officially listed as MIA.

AOLer Shannon Plaster, Wann's eldest daughter, was only 10 years old when soldiers arrived at her family's doorstep to inform her mother, Ruth, that her husband was missing. “I was sitting on the couch watching TV,” said Plaster. “Someone knocked on the door. When Mom answered the door and saw them in their dress blues, she just started bawling. They didn’t have to say anything. When military people come to your house in dress blues, you know something has happened.” As Plaster grew up, she felt that she had to find out the truth about her father and the events that had taken place on that mountain in Vietnam. As CW2 Wann would say, "I CAN'T is NOT in my vocabulary." It wasn't in Plaster's vocabulary either.

In 1990, Plaster sent a letter to the Pentagon asking whether her father was alive or dead. A Lieutenant Colonel called her from the Pentagon and indicated that CW2 Wann's case was still open and being investigated by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). In 1993, the JPAC located the helicopter crash site, but the search for CW2 Wann and LT Magers was called off several years later after a JPAC aircraft went down in the same area, killing everyone on board. Then, in 2005, Plaster learned that the search had resumed due to an unbelievable piece of information: a Vietnamese soldier named Pham Thiet Hung who came forward, indicating that he had buried an aviator's body in the forest the day after the 1971 crash. In 2008, Vietnamese and American forces located the crash site with Hung's help. Using dental records and DNA evidence, the JPAC positively identified the two bodies recovered from the scene as CW2 Don Wann and LT Paul Magers.

In August 2010, Plaster flew to Hawaii to bring her father's remains back home for burial at Fort Gibson National Cemetery in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. On August 21, 2010, the Oklahoma National Guard conducted a burial ceremony with full military honors, including a Black Hawk flyover and a rifle salute. Hundreds of veterans on motorcycles and flag-waving residents filled the streets, and attendees praised Plaster for her efforts in bringing her father back to America. You can view a slide show of the ceremony here (link to http://muskogeephoenix.com/archive/x865118082). Today, Plaster's outreach efforts haven't stopped just because her father has finally been recovered. She is a coordinator for the National League of POW/MIA Families, an organization that seeks to "obtain the release of all prisoners, the fullest possible accounting for the missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains of those who died serving our nation during the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia." Thank you, Shannon, for everything that you have done and continue to do on behalf of our missing veterans. You make AOL proud.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY.

-----AOL Military Support Group

Note: Some information was pulled from the Muskogee Phoenix/byline Kirk Kramer

Open Salon Is Annoying

I wanted to post something meaningful on Open Salon tonight and cross-post it here. However, it isn't letting me log in and quite frankly, I feel like going to bed. So, off I go! Open Salon is getting on my nerves with all of its server hangups and outages. A lot of people who blog there have become irritated as well and are leaving for greener pastures, which is too bad. Open Salon could be awesome if they could get their shit together.

Brain Farts

I have got to do something about these brain farts I keep having. Whenever I have the chance to blog, I don't know what to talk about. Well, I could think of some stuff to say but it would be totally boring and stupid. Annoying! I keep looking for inspiration but can't find any. Does anyone out there have any inspiration to share? Lol.

Farmers' Tan From Hell

Today I watched the girls play soccer, which was fun, of course! What wasn't so much fun was getting the worst farmers' tan ever! I got Nicole's soccer picture back and sat with it on my lap during the entire game. Now I have an enormous white square on my thighs from where my legs were covered by the picture, nicely accentuated by burnt skin around the edges. My knees also got fried. It doesn't hurt but it sure does look interesting....

My Last Post?

Some weirdos say the world is supposed to end tomorrow. Yeah, I kind of don't believe them, as you've probably surmised by now. Well, obviously, if the world ends then I won't be posting on here anymore. So - just in case - it's been real. Peace out!

It's Official!

I'm moving to a new group at work. I'll be performing SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) and other audits as part of the Internal Audit team. I haven't done auditing in about 16 years so we'll see how it goes! This type of work has the potential to become a bit boring, but hey, at this point in my life I kind of want to be bored sometimes. They are still working out the details of my transition so I don't know exactly when I'll switch over, but I'm excited about starting my new role!

A 3-Hour PTA Meeting, Yippeeee!!

Well, I don't think I've ever been to a General meeting that went on for 3 hours. Sure, the Exec Board meetings sometimes take forever, but a General meeting? Good lord!! Thank goodness the lights go out in the school at 10 PM or I'd still be sitting there!!!

OS Post

I posted on Open Salon today. I'll be back tomorrow!!

Stage Mom

Well, I forced Nicole to try out for all star soccer and she got cut. No reason was provided. I am not too happy right now.....

Sleepover Hangover

Ugh, I didn't get much sleep last night and had to get up early this AM to run in a race! Our overnight guests were well-behaved but stayed up late. Also, one of the younger ones got spooked and had to leave early. My girls both took long naps today but unfortunately I was not so lucky. However, I did get to see Nicole kick butt at All-Star soccer tryouts. I hope she makes the team! She played really well, so I'm thinking she has a good chance. We should find out within the next couple of days. Now, off to finish some chores and go to bed!!

Sleepover!

I've got 10 girls spending the night tonight... including my own kids so only 8 extra. It's Nicole's 11th birthday party sleepover! Everyone seems to be having fun so far except a couple of girls ate too much candy and now they have stomachaches. Go figure! I hope they don't go to bed too late...

Exciting Stuff!

I had some interesting stuff happen today. I'll discuss later because it's not over yet. Stay tuned!

Blogger Was Down! No, Really!

I didn't do a blog post yesterday, but I have an excuse! And I have proof! Blogger (the blogspot engine) was down for hours and hours. I guess they tried to do some maintenance the other day and it messed something up, so they had to take it offline completely. When I tried to do my entry around 10 PM last night, the site was in read-only mode and it was still that way this morning! Yeah yeah, I could have done a post on Open Salon instead, but I wasn't planning on writing anything very earth-shattering, and OS is meant for "real" writing and not my daily blogspot brain farts aka glorified Facebook posts. So - I will do another post tonight to get caught up.

PS. Here is the "proof" of the Blogger outage I mentioned earlier. http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/05/blogger-is-back.html

Nicole Is 11!!

I can't believe my firstborn daughter turned 11 today! She asked for a basketball hoop but we need to shop around for it because it will probably turn out to be pretty expensive. We got her a basketball, a DS game, 2 Hollister t-shirts and a new book. We went to Cici's pizza (one of those buffet joints) for dinner. Nicole says she doesn't feel 11. I don't feel like she's 11 either! Just for the record. :)

Well That Was a Long Day!

Work, 2 mile run, PTA Exec meeting and travel soccer parent info meeting. I just got home and I haven't even had dinner yet. Must go eat!!!

Bunnies!!!!

I went for a walk on the path behind our house last night and came across three bunny rabbits on three separate occasions! They were too darned cute, but of course they ran away. Now all we need are some deer in the woods and the neighborhood will be complete!

Mother's Day Post

I posted on Open Salon today. Swing on over and check it out here!

My Day Of Worship (LOL) Is Less Than 120 Minutes Away!

As my brother-in-law stated in his Mothers' Day card to me, my "day of worship" should be "every day." I second that. Lol! Tomorrow I am looking forward to a day filled with shopping (the fun kind) and alone time. SCORE!! Happy Mothers' Day to all you moms out there!!!

I Am Lame

My plan is go go to bed at 8 PM. Yeah. Lame.

Girly Sleepover!

Cole is out of town tonight and I always let the girls sleep in my bed when he's gone. It's a fun way to reconnect with them and it's awesome being surrounded by warm bodies during cold weather too. Of course, it's not cold now, but we won't let that ruin our sleepover fun. Time for me to head upstairs and jump under the covers!! :)

In Need Of Inspiration

My blog posts have been sucking the big one recently. I feel like I don't have anything interesting or witty to say, yet my New Years' Resolution to do a blog entry each day is forcing me to type what amounts to glorified facebook status updates. I need some more inspiration, stat!! Now where can I find some?

Annoyed

Frankly, I'm getting irritated with how busy things have gotten on the career front. I feel like I don't have time to do anything fun and I am *this* close to being totally burnt out! Still not as stressful as raising small children, but at least raising small children is more fulfilling.

Birthday Party.....

I just sent out the evite for Nicole's 11th birthday party! I can't believe she is going to be 11 in just 9 days. Time keeps flying by!

I Wonder What Would Happen....

.... if I told everyone at work to KISS MY ASS!!!!! Because sometimes I really feel like it. I'll let you know how it goes. lol